Maintenance – Creamy Garden Soup (that's Dairy-Free)

It’s the time of the year that we anxiously await the bounty of the garden!

We don’t have a garden right now (since we are getting ready to sell our house) but we have been lucky enough to have been asked to help out in someone else’s HUGE garden. My kids are paid each week to go over and weed, and although they are big fans of the work, it has been fun for them to see the garden’s growth each month and see what can come from the tiny seeds they planted. Last week we got our first gift from the garden; a huge paper bag full of green peas.

I know that the middle of summer is not necessarily the best time for soup, but this is a recipe that I think I will be making all summer long. At first glance it may seem like a simple soup recipe, but somehow the flavors come together so perfectly in this soup that I simply can’t get enough of. My kids loved it (which was a relief) and my oldest daughter said, “Thanks for putting cheese in the soup this time”. I laughed and said, “It’s not cheese, it’s cauliflower!”

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

2 TBS olive oil

1 sweet onion, chopped

1 head of cauliflower, chopped into florets

1 quart of vegetable broth

2 Tomatoes, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 small zucchini, chopped into 1-inch cubes

¾ cups of canned coconut milk

1 tsp salt

Garnish: 1 bunch cilantro, juice from 2 limes, Siracha hot sauce

(For more greens a whole head of kale is delicious in this too)

Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Sautee the onion and cauliflower on medium heat for 7 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the broth, tomatoes, and garlic. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat to low. Allow the soup to simmer for 15 minutes. Add the zucchini and salt and simmer for 5 more minutes or until the zucchini and cauliflower are soft. Remove the pot from the heat.

Pour the coconut milk into a high-powered blender and add about 3 cups of the soup (mostly cauliflower if possible). Puree the soup and coconut milk until it becomes creamy (be careful because the soup is very hot). Pour the puree back into the soup pot.

Add the cilantro, lime juice and hot sauce. Serve it with love and a smile 🙂